Yes, I've heard some variation between pairs. I guess I'm lucky to have gotten an agreeable pair.
I hope your second pair fits you well - I really enjoy mine.
And what are the cosmetic issues? There was a known problem with the headband a couple years ago, but I haven't heard of anything else.

The headband is marred up on the left side (plastic part). It's not really scratched, the best way I can describe it is that it looks like if you were to constantly rub two of those pieces together it would take away the matte finish and make it shiny. It would be fine if it was uniform but this is in a funny looking zig zag pattern that is pretty noticeable up close. Other than that, if I decide to keep these I will send out for the Sennheiser freq response graph so I can see what makes these so smooth.

Is it possible that all these observations about two of the same product (mostly Sennheisers) could be traced to driver matching issues? I remember back when I was seriously setting up my car 1db variance on one driver (be it tweeter or midwoofer) can cause those perceived treble peaks or scratching "t" and "s" sound, even if both were processed to arrive at your ears from one listening position at the same time.

Interesting, maybe that's why the T1 pair I recently measured sounded so bad. The treble was off 3-4db in the 10kHz region.

In any case, I'm trying to grab a few HD800s to measure their variances. The L/R driver matching on my pair was excellent - meaning better than anything I've measured.

My HD800s ( SN: 11986 ) arrived brand new, but within a few minutes of taking them out and proudly listening to them, I heard something wrong with the right side.

You know that sound of a hair rattling on a diaphragm? If you aren’t familiar with the sound, it was like a grand piano with coin on it that would rattle when you hit a sharp bass note.

I tried a few harmless ways of getting the hair out, but they build these things like a safe: Nothing was coming out of there. Not to mention I never actually saw anything in there and was only assuming it was a hair (you should've heard the seller, "I find it difficult to believe there's a hair in your HD800s, but if you really think there’s a problem......" hahaha).

And so it took me a whole week of listening and tinkering in vain before I picked up the courage to send the headphones back overseas for warranty. but naturally not before I had chipped the paint (arrgh!)

Ironically, when they got back one long month later, the paint chip was a comforting way to see I'd got my original pair back.

Now here’s the interesting part: The headphones were repaired nicely, no rattling when I got them back. However the left channel was louder then the right. It was like the whole soundstage was shifted to the left with some minor sound differences to boot. This gave me a little scare, but I thought; they may have changed the entire right driver which would mean the left side has an extra weeks burn in (right?).

So I unplugged the left side and ran music through the right side for a few hours, low and behold the soundstage balanced up nicely after that.

I guess what it taught me is that no two drivers are the same. not even the two in your own headphones.

I'm also very curious to know if the FR chart I just ordered from the Sennheiser site will be accurate to my actual headphones and not to my SN, if that makes sense.

The headband is marred up on the left side (plastic part). It's not really scratched, the best way I can describe it is that it looks like if you were to constantly rub two of those pieces together it would take away the matte finish and make it shiny. It would be fine if it was uniform but this is in a funny looking zig zag pattern that is pretty noticeable up close. Other than that, if I decide to keep these I will send out for the Sennheiser freq response graph so I can see what makes these so smooth.

It's little things like that which drive me crazy. With the HD800 you have to be very lenient, factory fresh there are usually small imperfections here and there. This is not the only high end headphone BTW to suffer the same manufacturing/production flaws in my experience.

I asked the same question not too long ago about the differences in sound of production batches; from memory many mentioned an aftermarket cable seemed to even the playing field for "harsh" pairs.

It's little things like that which drive me crazy. With the HD800 you have to be very lenient, factory fresh there are usually small imperfections here and there. This is not the only high end headphone BTW to suffer the same manufacturing/production flaws in my experience.

I asked the same question not too long ago about the differences in sound of production batches; from memory many mentioned an aftermarket cable seemed to even the playing field for "harsh" pairs.

Yep it drives me nuts as well. What is even more crazy is how headphone.com refused to work with me even though they are making $600 on these. They basically said that I was on my own and had to deal with sennheiser to get it fixed. Thats what I call great customer support! Oh well, im sort of over it now. Im thinking about making a thread about my experience though....

Interesting. I just got mine over the weekend. Serial number is 12712. I waited 3 weeks for them. They sound great. Still burning them in.

I hope you are enjoying them =). I am still trying to get mine fixed. Headroom said they would return them for a 15% restocking fee or I would have to contact Sennheiser directly. After telling Headroom that was not an acceptable option for such a high end piece of equipment they told me that they would no longer be accepting any of my orders . I am now talking with Sennheiser direct. Hopefully all goes well .

I hope you are enjoying them =). I am still trying to get mine fixed. Headroom said they would return them for a 15% restocking fee or I would have to contact Sennheiser directly. After telling Headroom that was not an acceptable option for such a high end piece of equipment they told me that they would no longer be accepting any of my orders . I am now talking with Sennheiser direct. Hopefully all goes well .

Sorry to hear things not go well with Headroom. Hope you will have better luck with Sennheiser.

Sennheiser is hooking me up. They are replacing my pair with a new personally inspected pair and a free pair of in ears. I will update this thread once I get my new HD800. So far I really like how they are handling things. Fast responses and top notch support.

Sennheiser is hooking me up. They are replacing my pair with a new personally inspected pair and a free pair of in ears. I will update this thread once I get my new HD800. So far I really like how they are handling things. Fast responses and top notch support.

Nice! Glad you got it all sorted and and that Sennheiser came through for you.

I hope you are enjoying them =). I am still trying to get mine fixed. Headroom said they would return them for a 15% restocking fee or I would have to contact Sennheiser directly. After telling Headroom that was not an acceptable option for such a high end piece of equipment they told me that they would no longer be accepting any of my orders . I am now talking with Sennheiser direct. Hopefully all goes well .

WOW thats a bunch of crap. They sell you a defective pair and want 15 percent because they are bad. Thats a bad return policy and then when you complain they wont let you buy anything anymore. Thats why i buy Amazon and JR with their outstanding customer service,better prices and no Bull Crap. Great to know Sennheiser fixed your issue and shame on Headroom